1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to automated training and, more particularly, is concerned with vehicle simulators.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A vehicle simulator can be defined as a system that simulates the operating conditions of a vehicle in an environment. Where the vehicle simulated is a car, the environment typically includes a road. In this case the environment may also include weather conditions such as rain or snow. Besides cars, examples of other types of vehicles that may be simulated include airplanes, ships, submersibles and space vehicles.
Vehicle simulators provide the means to efficiently train vehicle operators. That is, a simulator can be used where an operator has a need to safely learn how to operate the particular vehicle being simulated. Rather than train an operator on a real-world vehicle, the simulator is used thereby avoiding accidents. Clearly, experience garnered through making mistakes on a simulator is invaluable when compared to the inherent risks of vehicle damage, and moreover, operator injury, associated with making a driving error in a real-life situation.
In some sense, a simulator achieves a balance between testing the operator's knowledge of the "rules of the road" and testing the operator's use of a vehicle. Testing the operator's knowledge is typically and conveniently accomplished through written and/or verbal examinations. However, examinations are of limited usefulness for operator training. For example, operator reflexes are not tested at all, and, moreover, such examinations do not adequately address the skills necessary for real-time decision-making.
Besides concerns for operator safety, the other alternative, actual vehicle operation, has its pitfalls too. First, the cost of instructor time may be prohibitive. Furthermore, the actual vehicle itself, such as for space or undersea operation, may simply not be available. Lastly, there is always the risk of an accident when a student is training on an actual vehicle under realistic conditions. Although a certain amount of training may occur in benign environments, for example, learning to drive a car in an empty parking lot, there comes a time, early in the operator's training, where driving in an unrealistic environment is no longer useful or practical.
Vehicle simulators address the issue of presenting the operator with a realistic training environment. The principal shortcoming of existing training systems, however, is that they do not provide realistic feedback for incremental learning. For example, in most known systems there are no means for instantaneously gauging one's progress against a prior use of the vehicle while it is in operation.
Video arcade games are another technology providing a certain degree of user feedback. Arcade games are typically placed in public areas such as arcade halls, theaters, airports and other such areas where the users can occupy time and entertain themselves by playing the game. Arcade games utilizing video displays have been around for some time now, beginning with the simplistic game of bouncing a ball across a line with paddles known as "Pong". However, with the passage of time, video arcade games have become ever more sophisticated and realistic.
Because arcade games have housings which occupy limited space, the game computer equipment is subject to strict space constraints. In addition, the user's interest must be captured and maintained by the simulator, thus requiring that processing be accomplished in real-time. The competing space and time goals thus make the task of injecting realism into the games more difficult.
In many senses, the arcade game called "Hard Drivin'.TM.", manufactured and distributed by Atari Games Corp. of Milpitas, Calif., represents the state of the art in arcade game realism. The physical layout of the game includes clutch, brake and gas pedals, a gearshift and a steering wheel. The user, or driver, is provided feedback response from a video display having a three-dimensional graphical representation of the driving environment and from a speaker which generates realistic sounds of driving. A digital processor, comprising a number of microprocessors and a memory, is the interface between the user inputs and the feedback response.
Many current arcade games, including the one previously described, require that the user compete against some unknown "best" or "champion" player who has played the game at some point in the past. A player becomes a new champion by maximizing some metric or set of parameters and thereby displacing a previous champion. Besides the noted issue of anonymity, in most of these arcade games the only indicia of the champion's skill level is a single numeric score. Hence, there is no indication of what moves, speeds, etc., the champion used to obtain the high score. A recording of a game would be most important if the user desired to improve his skill level as against someone having greater skill at playing the game such as the champion.
Other systems have incorporated the device of connecting two arcade games together and having users compete against one another with full knowledge of who they are competing against, their actions being coordinated and displayed simultaneously. In such multiple machine configurations, a serious disadvantage is that it is costly to the proprietor since the play area doubles and the cost of machines doubles for the given game. Furthermore, these games do not present an indication of what moves an individual player needs to improve if the competing player happens to be less skillful than his counterpart.
Consequently, a need exists for realistic vehicle simulators and arcade games to provide personalized feedback, wherein the feedback may be personalized by either the operator/user or by an instructor/champion.